Jersey Jazzman: Can We Please Get the Facts Right About Newark's Schools?

Jersey Jazzman: Can We Please Get the Facts Right About Newark's Schools?:

Can We Please Get the Facts Right About Newark's Schools?

Let me start by saying I like David Kirp's work enormously; I think everyone who cares about education policy should read Improbable Scholars, a detailed and thoroughly readable piece of qualitative research about school reform in Union City, NJ. I have some issues with the generalizability of Kirp's work, but he's a fine writer and I think, like Jonathan Kozol, he does a good job of describing what actually happens in an urban public school system.

Let me further say I think Kirp is on to something in his piece today for the NY Times. There's little doubt the "creative destruction" approach to schooling found in Newark has not led to any measurable gains in student learning. Bruce Baker and I recently pointed out that any gains in test scores in Newark, if they even exist, are part of a larger, statewide pattern. And I'll have new work out soon that shows the same thing with the vaunted increases in graduation rates that the fans of Cami Anderson like to crow about.

Kirp is not the first to note that urban districts in New Jersey that have resisted charter schools, such as Elizabeth and Union City, have schools that do comparatively well on tests compared to state averages, even though they have large numbers of students in economic disadvantage. Of course, we rarely hear about these schools because, unlike the large, - See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2016/01/can-we-please-get-facts-right-about.html#sthash.ZsIH8TkV.dpuf